1) SEMrush - I believe that among all the 3rd party software, SEMrush has the largest keyword database. Their search volume data is pretty accurate and aligns with the Google keyword planner. Also, based on the type of content that needs to be produced (i.e. informational, transactional, etc.), one can utilize different filtering options available in it.

This is another free tool for keyword research. The tool allows you to combine your keywords in a very easy manner. It has three main match types which include broad match, phrase match and the exact match. You can choose on any of them depending on your keyword search objectives. In addition, you can either use broad modifier or optional keyword or both. Most users are finding it to be a very useful tool in their search for the most appropriate keywords.

How do I research keywords? This is a common question I get from clients. And my immediate response is… Long Tail Pro! With the update to Google Adwords Keyword Planner (rendering it near worthless) without paying for Google ads and to test actually search volume for keywords, the generic Avg. search volume range they provide gives you ZERO actionable data! See example below:

In order to know which keywords to target, it's essential to not only understand the demand for a given term or phrase, but also the work required to achieve high rankings. If big brands take the top 10 results and you're just starting out on the web, the uphill battle for rankings can take years of effort. This is why it's essential to understand keyword difficulty.

These 3 keyword matching options are not solely to blame for the large variations seen when comparing data from the keyword tools. Much of this difference can be attributed to the distinctive techniques that the tools use to collect their data. Let’s take a look at how these tools collect and present their data and hopefully it will help clear up any confusion.
I actually don't use any keyword tools aside from Google Trends, but only rarely do I even use that. I try to talk to many of our target audience members (entrepreneurs) as I can. I attend events, I have phone calls, I sit next to them while working. Generally speaking, I think it's a waste of time to START with keyword tools instead of actual customers. Yes, you can target people in broad swaths and get a high level sense for what's interesting and trending, but at least in the case of our business at NextView Ventures, it's way more powerful to talk to actual "customers" you serve.

I just downloaded a free version of LTP 3.1.0 and I cannot figure out why I can’t see the table headers of ‘Page Authority’, ‘Domain Authority’, ‘Juice Links’, etc next to ‘Keyword Competitiveness’. Normally, I should be able to see these but instead I see new categories like ‘Trust Flow’, ‘Citation Flow’, ‘Domain CF’, ‘Domain TF’ and so on. I thought I can still use the regular version of LTP for 10 day trial so I am not sure why I see different categories. Is it b/c I am on version 3.1.0 instead of 3.0? Let me know if you have any idea.Thanks!

Before you can put it to use and start making Long Tail Pro pay for itself, you first need to understand exactly what Long Tail Pro does and how it will benefit you. The number one benefit and feature of Long Tail Pro is that it helps you analyze the competition in Google much faster and more effectively than if you tried to do it only using free tools.
Let's say you're considering starting a new website, or venturing into a new product niche. And, suppose you'd like to somehow determine how much search buzz is currently hovering around this topic. You can use Keyword Researcher to get a "feel" for how much interest is actually out there. For example, let's say you were selling cameras. Then you might consider the following:
To be convinced of the effectiveness of the product, you have to watch the video. The major benefit you are going to derive from the product is the multiple seed keywords it delivers. Unlike other similar products that give only single seed keyword, you would get multiple seed keyword with this program and you can get this at a time. Because you can process more than one seed at one time, it saves you a lot of time and resources. This is a huge plus to this product.
I use Ahrefs to find ideas for keywords to add into content, and content to create around keyword opportunities. I like how Ahrefs shows keyword difficulty, search volume, traffic potential (how much organic search traffic it’s possible to get when you rank #1 for a parent topic keyword) and lets you group keywords together to create lists. It’s really useful.
"With Google giving over the home page to ads and their own properties for commercial keywords, the Long Tail keyword is more important than ever. If you have a website, you know that most of your traffic comes from keywords you never would have thought of. With Keyword Researcher, you can find them in advance and make sure that you're the one that snags this traffic. I use it for all of my e-commerce site planning."
A very popular and highly competitive keyword on Google search engine is "making money." It has 85,300,000 search results, meaning that millions of websites are relevant or competing for that keyword. Keyword research starts with finding all possible word combinations that are relevant to the "making money" keyword. For example, a keyword "acquiring money" has significantly fewer search results, only 61 000 000, but it has the same meaning as "making money." Another way is to be more specific about a keyword by adding additional filters. Keyword "making money online from home in Canada" is less competitive on a global scale and therefore easier to rank for. Furthermore, keywords also have various intents which can affect whether the marketer would want to target that keyword. Multiple tools are available (both free and commercial) to find keywords and analyze them.
It’s very easy to use, fast and smooth and gives you tons of Long Tail Keywords. You only pay for the web based software once, so there are never any monthly fees. I’ve also been impressed over the years at how easy it is to update. These updates are free and the creator (Clever Gizmos) is always moving with the ever changing world of SEO and updated API’s to keep his program up to speed and fresh.

The Google Keyword Tool has a variety of helpful features meant to streamline the keyword research process. By entering terms or phrases into the search box, the Keyword Tool allows you to build extensive, relevant keyword lists from one simple interface. By default, the tool displays Advertising Competition, Global Monthly Searches, Local Monthly Searches, and Local Search Trends for each keyword. Additional options allow marketers to show the estimated Average Cost per Click, Ad share, and Search Share.

I’ve found google trends to be an interesting way to see if a keyword (and by extension a niche) is growing or shrinking, and whether it’s seasonal or not. I can’t think of any other tool out there that can reliably tell you this information, so that’s really useful. Also, if you’re building a site, especially an authority site, getting onto something that’s trending upwards is a fantastic idea.

After the Panda update rolled out, the latent risk in such a strategy could (typically would) vastly exceed the direct cost of the content, as poor pages on one part of a site could drag down the ranking of other pages on the site which targeted different keywords. Some sites have seen their search traffic fall over 90% with their ad revenues falling even faster. Demand Media went from being worth a couple billion to tens of millions of Dollars. ArticlesBase.com sold on Flippa for $80,000, but was making over $500,000 PER MONTH in profit before getting hit by Panda. Many other Panda-torched sites like Suite101 have simply went offline.
Usually, the various search engines provide their own keyword suggestion tools, which also include the number of searches for each of those keywords. The keyword researcher uses this information to select the correct keyword, depending on the SEO goals of the website. Around 20–25% of searches are very specific long tail keywords entered into Google every single day. It's easy to rank said keywords when there is the right amount of content and backlinks to match. Keyword research is a valuable and high return activity in the search marketing field.[citation needed]

Repeat this exercise for as many topic buckets as you have. And remember, if you're having trouble coming up with relevant search terms, you can always head on over to your employees on the front lines -- like Sales or Services -- and ask them what types of terms their prospects and customers use, or common questions they have. Those are often great starting points for keyword research.

Pricing plans and pricing structures for Long Tail Pro have changed several times over the years since I first purchased it. I’m not going to make the mistake of publishing any pricing information here. I’ve done that in the past on this blog and I still have several old posts that are live with incorrect pricing information. There is a good chance that people will still be reading this very post several years from now – and surely the pricing that is available today will be different in the future. Just like it was way different in the past. Please click on any of my links within this post or anywhere else on my site to see the latest prices for Long Tail Pro.
Given you have a good idea of where to start and are fairly confident you are speaking the same language as your client, jump start research by generating related keyphrases and long tail variants with the ever so easy to use Google Autocomplete. This tool makes predictions based on what you are typing that are a reflection of Google search activity.
Long Tail Pro is a keyword research tool that helps you quickly find low competition keywords for your website. In particular, the tool is built for people doing SEO (search engine optimization) as opposed to people doing paid ads (Google Adwords PPC). I'm sure there are some advertisers that use the tool for paid ad keyword research, but the tool was built for SEO keyword research.